credit where credit is due: one were about to go to a break when button came into the pits, rusty (i think) called it as critical over the ad break music, they stuck with it as the mclaren pit crew ****ed up a tyre change which led to jenson being fed in behind mark and co. a pivotal moment that we didn't miss thanks to a spur-of-the-moment decision.

I may be a bit over the top here but it takes me a 60inch tv, surround sound and 2 macbook pros to enjoy my Formula 1. One with live timing blown up on the screen and another with a stream going for ad breaks. That is one thing that still is just so painful, ad breaks in live sports are just horrendous. There are still too many ads on ONEHD during races. I know its only because of the sponsorship of the program itself, and Formula 1 is alot more funding, but last year during a MotoGP race there was usually one ad break about mid race and that was it. But I'm sure that is more down to less sponsors than anything. Still though, frustrating! I would love Foxtel to buy the rights and give us SKY F1.

credit where credit is due: one were about to go to a break when button came into the pits, rusty (i think) called it as critical over the ad break music, they stuck with it as the mclaren pit crew ****ed up a tyre change which led to jenson being fed in behind mark and co. a pivotal moment that we didn't miss thanks to a spur-of-the-moment decision.

kudos

Thought that too ... it's like when the best picture speech at the oscars goes on and they start to play the music ... but the person keeps talkng cause they know they wont cut them off.

I may be a bit over the top here but it takes me a 60inch tv, surround sound and 2 macbook pros to enjoy my Formula 1. One with live timing blown up on the screen and another with a stream going for ad breaks. That is one thing that still is just so painful, ad breaks in live sports are just horrendous. There are still too many ads on ONEHD during races. I know its only because of the sponsorship of the program itself, and Formula 1 is alot more funding, but last year during a MotoGP race there was usually one ad break about mid race and that was it. But I'm sure that is more down to less sponsors than anything. Still though, frustrating! I would love Foxtel to buy the rights and give us SKY F1.

Yeah that is over the top!. BTW dont MotoGP races go for something like 20 mins? Would explain less ad breaks ...... should i clarify that 20 mins was an exaggeration or just wait it out?

Next weekend's race is broadcast live on Ten (we're down to a 30 minute pre-show, and probably less once you include late-running shows), and not at all on One. Qualifying is still live on One.

wow...didn't see that coming. Doesn't make much difference to me I don't watch the One pre race show as it is utter crap. 3 numptys that know nothing of the sport rehashing week old news and promoting their love for Webber. As bad as it is, maybe Network Ten are starting to lose interest in Formula 1 and maybe this is the chance for Foxtel to swoop in and take the rights? As a Foxtel subscriber I can only hope...selfishly speaking of course.

Wait, so Ten have a dedicated sports channel, broadcasting in both SD & HD, and they chose not to show it on there?
What are they showing instead? Is there some conflict with MotoGP or something and they figure F1 will attract more casual viewers than MotoGP? (ie normal people like cars more than bikes)

Perhaps just a temporary change?? The thing that would suck the most is that Ten coverage will be subject to Masterchef or whatever other reality show is used on a Sunday nights.

Seems theres moves ahead at Network Ten though, they have Channel 11 listed as #11 on their website (whereas it has been Eleven [the channel name] was on #12 [the spot on the dial so to speak] and #11 was a SD version of ONE)

Wait, so Ten have a dedicated sports channel, broadcasting in both SD & HD, and they chose not to show it on there? What are they showing instead? Is there some conflict with MotoGP or something and they figure F1 will attract more casual viewers than MotoGP? (ie normal people like cars more than bikes)

Perhaps just a temporary change?? The thing that would suck the most is that Ten coverage will be subject to Masterchef or whatever other reality show is used on a Sunday nights.

Just to clarify, One isn't a dedicated sports channel anymore (unfortunately) - it's pitched against 7Mate these days, as a men's interest channel with sports.

I'm confused as to what is happening next week, if it's permanent, and what the reason for doing so is. One/Ten aren't answering anything on their FB/Twitter accounts.

I think Im going to make a phone call and pose as a "Administrator for a large Australian F1 community" and ask why this is happening so to not keep the Australian viewers in the dark, should I even bother or will they just tell me they don't know...

Is it possible they are confused because there was/is half a chance Bahrain cancellation?

mymemoryfails

Well I don't know why there is confusion, the race was never cancelled, and as far as One/Ten were concerned the race was ALWAYS going to be on, so I don't know why there would be any complications unless they banked on the race being cancelled, but even then it wouldn't be hard to reschedule a bloody movie for gods sake?

Shit - I just thought it meant they were showing on Ten as well on OneHD. I figured that maybe some people couldn't get OneHD so they were doing everyone a favour. I hope OneHD aren't dropping it, that's just crap if that's the case.

Shit - I just thought it meant they were showing on Ten as well on OneHD. I figured that maybe some people couldn't get OneHD so they were doing everyone a favour. I hope OneHD aren't dropping it, that's just crap if that's the case.

Thats what I thought also, I thought it was just going to be shown on Ten aswell as one, not being ditched from One to Ten. Im gonna look on whirlpool forums maybe there is an answer there, ps that is a GREAT forum for anything regarding anything in Australia.

all i know is that ten is in deep financial shit at the moment (ad takings down 70% year-on-year) so everything they're doing is about raising revenue.

this suggests to me that F1 is doing well enough on one to make them think they can reach a wider audience (and make more money from ads) on the SD network.

my concern is that they may not understand why F1 is doing relatively well - HD, relatively focused and specialised coverage, guaranteed live coverage - and end up ****ing one of the few things that is going well for the network at the moment by falling into the old trap of delaying coverage thanks to masterchef overruns etc.

ultimately, i'll say what i always say: if melbourne loses the GP in 2015 and no other capital city steps in to keep it in australia - perth being the only possible option IMHO - then the only thing that will keep F1 on FTA will be if DR is one of the top drivers (ditto for the race being picked up by perth, now i think about it)

if there's no aussie race or no iconic aussie on the grid by then, the hardened rump of F1 fans will watch the races live and uninterrupted on foxtel while everyone else moves on.

I just checked my foxtel IQ2 box schedule and it has F1 starting at 9:30pm and it is in SD cos the HD icon (that all hd shows on Foxtel have in description) isnt there. What a joke, so disappointing and frstrating! If ONEHD is meant to be a 'mens' channel why the hell is it showing Netball?

Okay guys I have just been over at the Whirlpool forum where apparently this has been coming from a while, someone posted on there on April 9:

PC-Lover writes...Showing all races last year in HD has increased viewers to very big numbers for a digital multi-channel like ONE.

The Chinese GP will be the last F1 race you'll see live in HD for a while. European races will be broadcast on Ten.

The sooner Foxtel gets the rights to F1, the better.

I asked the question as to why this is happening, haven't received a reply yet but apparently, from what that says, it isn't just going to be Bahrain, but the rest of the season basically. What the hell is going on?

Because FTA tv in australia is completely retarted? They dont understand why people watch sport. HD + LIVE is a 100% must otherwise don't even bother. Give it to foxsports where they will treat the sport the respect it deserves.

Foxtel isn't the answer.
If foxtel gets the rights, it will be good for a while, and then they will just fill it with insurance ads like they do with everything else. Only now you're paying them extra to do so.
When they have the monopoly on stuff, why WOULDN'T they fill it with ads? They can do whatever they like then.

I'd rather have free tv with ads than pay tv with ads thanks.

I remember reading somewhere that the usa (indycar, nascar perhaps??) has side by side ads, so you're more likely to keep watching rather than tape and skip thru the ads. Maybe that is a possibility.

Foxtel isn't the answer.If foxtel gets the rights, it will be good for a while, and then they will just fill it with insurance ads like they do with everything else. Only now you're paying them extra to do so. When they have the monopoly on stuff, why WOULDN'T they fill it with ads? They can do whatever they like then.

I'd rather have free tv with ads than pay tv with ads thanks.

I remember reading somewhere that the usa (indycar, nascar perhaps??) has side by side ads, so you're more likely to keep watching rather than tape and skip thru the ads. Maybe that is a possibility.

Indycar do/did side by side, not sure if they do anymore cos its with NBC now and not ABC, but that is a good idea cos you don't miss anything and sponsors still get advertised. But I wouldn't get if there was ads in Free Practice and pre race build up etc so long as Quali/Race are un interrupted, which is what Sky do in the UK and if F1 came to Foxtel, being owned by Murdoch, why wouldn't he just use the Sky channel and when Sky UK go to an ad break Sky F1 channel in Aus just inserts Aus ads instead? Seems like it would work, but the worst part of this is One have the contract until 2015 (i think) and thats still 3 years away, and who knows if Sky will even have the rights in 3 years.

This will be for the Euro races. Once we hit Canada, USA and the Asian/Brazilian races it will all change. To be honest this is Ten's best chance to claw some ratings against the lack of sport on Nine and 7. Also will be great to get some new people into the sport, you guys have to think bigger picture. Why would Ten want to put in the main channel? Because of the increase in viewings for F1 and now since Ten will be focused on that, that will give more viewers which in turn will make the sport popular which in turn will make it a mainstay on the FTA channels.

Foxtel isn't the answer.If foxtel gets the rights, it will be good for a while, and then they will just fill it with insurance ads like they do with everything else. Only now you're paying them extra to do so. When they have the monopoly on stuff, why WOULDN'T they fill it with ads? They can do whatever they like then.

I'd rather have free tv with ads than pay tv with ads thanks.

I remember reading somewhere that the usa (indycar, nascar perhaps??) has side by side ads, so you're more likely to keep watching rather than tape and skip thru the ads. Maybe that is a possibility.

why would foxsports fill f1 with ads? i watch the a-league and there are no ads during the game, same for pretty much everything on there. As far as i know FOM don't put ads in the broadcast (like nascar and indycar do) so no reason for foxsports to put ads on. Foxsports has the monopoly on the a-league and socceroos games but no ads, so yeah....